Leading a bipartisan delegation of senators to Israel, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other senators took shelter from rocket attacks in Tel Aviv on Sunday shortly before the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“While in Tel Aviv today, our delegation was rushed to a shelter to wait out rockets sent by Hamas,” Schumer wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He posted a photo of himself alongside aides and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, gathered in a room. “It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself.”
Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., are also on the trip.
Schumer’s team later shared a photo of the senators meeting with Netanyahu and Israel’s war cabinet to discuss military aid in the war on Hamas and express the United States’ support of the country’s mission in Gaza. Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have been killed in the fighting. Israel is amassing forces on the border with Gaza as United Nations and Palestinian officials warn thousands more civilians will die if troops advance into the territory and hospitals run out of fuel.
“We’re having good, productive meetings with Israeli leaders. I'll lead the effort in the U.S. Senate to provide Israel with the support required to defend itself from this monstrous attack,” Schumer said on X.
The senators were expected to give a press conference in Tel Aviv later on Sunday.
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., also sheltered from rocket fire as the war broke out last week. The congressman took shelter in a hotel stairwell with his family until they were able to safely leave the country on Oct. 8. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was also in the country at the time on unrelated Senate business and sheltered in place alongside his staff in Jerusalem.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin have already made trips to Israel in the aftermath of Hamas' attack and as the war raged, with Blinken expected to return on Monday.